At least 86 people died in the recent spate of violence in parts of Ethiopia, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said in his first public appearance since the violence broke out.

He termed the violence as “embarrassing” and lives lost “for no reason”.

Mr Abiy told a news conference on sunday that four out of the 86 victims were women, while 10 were killed by security forces.

Mr Abiy said the reason he gave the religious and ethnic details of the victims is to show that “there is no ethnic, gender or religious group that does not kill when there is a problem [violence.

The clashes started after an influential activist from the Oromo Ethnic Group, Jawar Mohammed, said on facebook that the government was trying to endanger his life by removing his bodyguards. The government denied the allegation.